Thank you to everyone who has been involved in the campaign on the Listed Places of Worship Scheme.
I welcome the latest U-turn from the government that means a new scheme will be introduced with funding confirmed for the next few years.
Many of our historic churches and places of worship are old buildings that cost a lot to maintain and repair and the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme played a vital role in ensuring they survived.
Our listed places of worship play a vital role in our communities and are part of our nation's heritage.
But the Labour government cut the funding and put a cap on the amount any one site could receive. Future funding was uncertain and this meant many repair schemes were cancelled or put on hold, meaning more buildings falling into disrepair and at risk.
Thanks to the lobbying efforts of everyone involved in the campaign, the government has finally announced it will now be introducing a new scheme called the Places of Worship Renewal Fund.
Conservatives committed to restoring the Places of Worship funding back to previous levels and removing the cap - and in the longer term to introducing a new, more proactive capital grant scheme. The government appears to have - at least in part - followed our commitments.
Further details will be coming from the government soon and we will be scrutinising the details on exactly how much more money is committed, on eligibility criteria and the application process.
It does not appear that the funding commitment is as much as Conservatives had been calling for and committed to, but the announcement will be a relief to many custodians of our treasured places of worship who feared the scheme could be scrapped altogether and thank you again to everyone involved.